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Re: Random Thread

Posted: Tue Dec 31, 2019 7:14 pm
by Kuchigakatai
Creče lebe zon? What does that mean and how does it show that delaying something is sometimes worth it?

Re: Random Thread

Posted: Tue Dec 31, 2019 8:53 pm
by Pabappa
Today my phone went from 93% to 100% battery without being plugged into anything ... I was just holding it in my hand. While it made me smile, I suspect its actually a bad thing and that the battery might be nearing the end of its life, as this phone is a few years old and I use it a lot.

Re: Random Thread

Posted: Wed Jan 01, 2020 3:27 am
by Arkasas
Ser wrote: Tue Dec 31, 2019 7:14 pm Creče lebe zon? What does that mean and how does it show that delaying something is sometimes worth it?
It means Happy New Year in Verdurian, which I should hope is fairly self-explanatory.

Re: Random Thread

Posted: Sun Jan 05, 2020 11:09 pm
by Pabappa
Has anyone used DAZ 3D modeling software? is it nice? is it easy to use? My avatars are all from a 3D modeling program called Milkshape, but I havent used it in years and the developer doesnt seem to be maintaining it so Im not sure its going to work on future computers.

Re: Random Thread

Posted: Mon Jan 06, 2020 12:21 pm
by rotting bones
I've only ever used Blender.

Someone made me take Mensa's online sample test recently. It said I'd probably qualify. I might be interested in joining if Mensa is the closest thing to a club for puzzle solvers. I don't remember seeing a club that's explicitly dedicated to puzzle solving. Does anyone know anything about this?

Edit: On the other hand, I would not be interested if Mensa is full of, you know, only these types of people: https://youtu.be/UBc7qBS1Ujo

Re: Random Thread

Posted: Mon Jan 06, 2020 1:48 pm
by Pabappa
My parents bought me some Mensa-related puzzle books as a kid and I really enjoyed them. I went looking around online recently, figuring the same sort of things might be available online for free now, but I don't see quite the same skill required that I remember from the books. of course, I was younger then, and my mind might not have been that sharp. Also, I seem to have only ever been good at a certain subset of puzzle ... e.g. the puzzles on https://www.mensa.org.uk/puzzles/brainteasers?page=1 are mostly beyond me. but I did really good at a game called Mindtrap where there was less math and more logic.

Re: Random Thread

Posted: Mon Jan 06, 2020 1:51 pm
by Vijay
Oh, I have Mindtrap right here in my room.

Re: Random Thread

Posted: Tue Jan 07, 2020 8:54 am
by rotting bones
Pabappa: Yeah, I usually solve puzzles like Calcudoku and Futoshiki. The pure logic problem #605 was much easier for me than the "anagram sandwiched between synonyms" genre. I also had an easier time with the visual sequences and analogies on the practice test. From what I understand, I won't usually get five minutes to sit and ponder on one question in a test environment.

Vijay: I had to look up that game. Are you proposing an online match?

Re: Random Thread

Posted: Tue Jan 07, 2020 8:56 am
by Ryusenshi
When watching Canadian videos, I understand the Anglophones better than the Francophones.

Re: Random Thread

Posted: Tue Jan 07, 2020 10:01 am
by Vijay
rotting bones wrote: Tue Jan 07, 2020 8:54 amVijay: I had to look up that game. Are you proposing an online match?
I think someone gave it to me as a Christmas present once, but I never actually got to play it because no one wanted to play it with me. My brother felt it was too dumb. :lol:

Re: Random Thread

Posted: Tue Jan 07, 2020 12:57 pm
by rotting bones
No one wants to play the WFF 'N PROOF board game with me. I couldn't even make my mom understand it, so we played another weird one I dug up called Triangoli. I am open to online games. Just saying.

When I was going to Aizawl, our driver claimed to be a Bengali man who lived in Assam. I couldn't understand over half the things he said. He may have been from Bangladesh, but I have no problem understanding the mainstream Bangal accent.

Re: Random Thread

Posted: Tue Jan 07, 2020 8:03 pm
by Kuchigakatai
Whoaaaaa

We're in 2020 now? I swear I didn't feel 2019 passing by. Are you guys sure that year happened at all?

I'm thinking of making it not count.

Re: Random Thread

Posted: Tue Jan 07, 2020 8:31 pm
by Vijay
rotting bones wrote: Tue Jan 07, 2020 12:57 pmI am open to online games. Just saying.
I honestly haven't played one in years.
When I was going to Aizawl, our driver claimed to be a Bengali man who lived in Assam. I couldn't understand over half the things he said. He may have been from Bangladesh, but I have no problem understanding the mainstream Bangal accent.
Out of curiosity, do you think you can understand the woman named Hasitun Nissa in this clip?

Re: Random Thread

Posted: Wed Jan 08, 2020 5:47 am
by rotting bones
I expect that to be perfectly intelligible to speakers of the prestige dialect, especially if they have been exposed to it before. The only problem is that, similar to the English spoken by Youtuber Beau of the Fifth Column, it may be prejudicially associated with lower rungs of the socioeconomic ladder by some people in Kolkata (and maybe eIsewhere).

I once heard a poem deliberately read with this accent on YouTube. It was about a poor, uneducated girl with dark skin who was married by a social worker without a dowry because that was the virtuous thing to do. Later, when the social worker falls on hard times, he tries to drown her and marry someone else. The poem was in the first person with the poor, uneducated girl as the narrator. Unfortunately, the channel doesn't seem to exist anymore. As expected given the theme of virtue signalling, there are dozens of poems and short films about girls with dark skin being mistreated.

I suspect the driver was speaking a dialect on the spectrum between Bengali and Assamese.

Re: Random Thread

Posted: Wed Jan 08, 2020 8:50 am
by rotting bones
Is this the most progressive Muslim group in North America? https://www.youtube.com/user/ProgressiveMuslims

Re: Random Thread

Posted: Mon Jan 13, 2020 6:10 pm
by Ryusenshi
Ryusenshi wrote: Tue Nov 12, 2019 11:25 pm I've heard that people who started programming with Java (where everything has to be an object) have the opposite problem when using another language: they tend to make new classes everywhere, even when it's not particularly appropriate.
Travis B. wrote: Wed Nov 13, 2019 1:21 pm The matter with Java programmers is probably an example of "if the only tool one has is a hammer, all problems will look like nails".
I saw an instance of Java-itis the other day. As part of a hiring process, I had to take a test in C++. Several questions asked me to write an "Answer" class with one single method, and no property whatsoever. Which means it could easily have been a simple function. Why make it a class, then??

Re: Random Thread

Posted: Tue Jan 14, 2020 3:08 am
by Kuchigakatai
I just read that essay by Borges where he mentions a hilarious "Chinese" (read: exotic) classification of animals with 14 weird main categories like "those belonging to the Emperor", "embalmed ones", "stray dogs" and "those that tremble like mad". I had heard about this essay many times, and only because of this 14-item list. The English and Spanish Wikipedia pages also discuss the list and little else.

The essay was a response to John Wilkins' philosophical conlang, from the 17th century. Wikipedia mentions this, but I was surprised that the weird animal classification actually seems like a rhetorical device to criticize a (probably real!?) system used by a bibliographical institute in Belgium, which he finds chaotic and biased.

I also liked it when he mentions he thinks that in a language with a divine scheme of the universe, you wouldn't just get a classification of an object inside the universe, but the details of the object's "fate", namely its past and future. It reminded me of Tolkien's Ent language, which is supposedly long-winded because to be able to use a single concept in a sentnece the entire knowledge about that concept must be discussed. A named sword is not just a particular sword but its entire known history.

I added some of this to the English Wikipedia page, to see if it stays there... The essay is about more than the fun 14-item list anyway.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celestial ... _Knowledge

Re: Random Thread

Posted: Tue Jan 14, 2020 4:35 pm
by Travis B.
Ryusenshi wrote: Mon Jan 13, 2020 6:10 pm
Ryusenshi wrote: Tue Nov 12, 2019 11:25 pm I've heard that people who started programming with Java (where everything has to be an object) have the opposite problem when using another language: they tend to make new classes everywhere, even when it's not particularly appropriate.
Travis B. wrote: Wed Nov 13, 2019 1:21 pm The matter with Java programmers is probably an example of "if the only tool one has is a hammer, all problems will look like nails".
I saw an instance of Java-itis the other day. As part of a hiring process, I had to take a test in C++. Several questions asked me to write an "Answer" class with one single method, and no property whatsoever. Which means it could easily have been a simple function. Why make it a class, then??
I am so glad that my current job, even though it is a Java/JavaScript shop, is not afflicted with design pattern-itis as many Java environments are, thank gawd.

Re: Random Thread

Posted: Wed Jan 15, 2020 9:33 am
by mèþru
It's been a few months since I've been here. What's new? I am not reading all 50+ notifications.

Re: Random Thread

Posted: Wed Jan 15, 2020 9:58 am
by rotting bones
Do what I do and read the last few posts. On the internet, there is no power stronger than ignorance.